| Schools,
Programs, & Visit Reports - Aug, 1990 Issue
|
Capistrano-By-The-Sea
Dana Point, California
Lon Woodbury's Visit: June 29, 1990
Capistrano is a hospital.
I usually don't review hospital programs, but with Larry Steidnitz's
leadership, the system he is developing is very pertinent to Special
Purpose Schools. Larry has developed a referral service for children
with behavior and emotional problems which he is coordinating with the
hospital services. The result is a full service facility that is extremely
responsive to the needs of the child. The odds of finding the best program
for each child is improved.
Most programs have only one
service to offer. The usual decision is whether the child is appropriate
or not. Unless an experienced educational consultant is involved, the
question of which program is best for the child is left to parents who
will often accept almost anything to solve the immediate crisis. Finding
the most appropriate place is usually based on luck, and some children
never get what they really need.
When a parent calls Larry
about a child with problems, the first decision is if hospitalization
is needed. If the behavior and/or evaluations suggest no, then Larry
works as an educational consultant to help the parents find the Special
Purpose school or program with the structure best for the child. If
the behavior indicates hospitalization might be the solution, then the
child is admitted to Capistrano for about two weeks of tests and evaluation.
Once the evaluation is done, there are three options depending on the
child's needs: l.) referral to an appropriate Special Purpose school;
2.) referral to a hospital specializing in that child's problem; or
3.) remaining at Capistrano if the hospital specializes in that child's
problem.
With this flexibility and
sensitivity to the needs of the child, and their being open to using
a wide variety of programs, I think Capistrano-By-the-Sea is on the
cutting edge of providing the best possible care for children with emotional
or mental problems. They have developed a model that should be duplicated
in every section of the country.
Capistrano-By-the-Sea is a
98 bed quality care hospital. I use the term "quality care" based on
the physical appearance of the facility and on having the opportunity
of talking with some of the residents. The young people I talked to
were relaxed and open, obviously feeling like they were in a safe environment.
The grounds were neat and the buildings tended to have the look of homes
rather than of an institution. The view of the Pacific Ocean was fantastic.
The hospital has a staff to patient ratio of three to one which allows
a considerable amount of one-to-one interaction. The sense I had was
of a place with caring and competent staff working with patients feeling
safe enough to trust.
Copyright
© 1990, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced without
prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author
attribution accompanies the copy.) |
